Resident Evil: Apocalypse

The 2002 film adaptation of Resident Evil led by Paul W. S. Anderson failed to meet expectations for fans of the series by producing a bland, uninteresting dated picture that was more interested in showcasing generic trends and cliches rather than anything authentic to the original source, yet this not only wasn’t enough to stop it from turning a profit on its measly budget, but it also wasn’t enough to prevent a franchise being birthed. In spite of each consecutive movie released within this withering corpse of a franchise being hit with terrible ratings, the solid box office meant that they were able to last a total of six entries, with none trying at any moment to extend an olive branch to the original fanbase, being more interested in concocting a strange, convoluted and horribly generic storyline that only dabbles in occasional references in order to keep the name on the banner. Out of all of them, the first sequel released only two years after the release of the first film, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, is rated the lowest, with a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, already getting this series off to a pretty bad start.

After the events of the first film, Alice (played again by Mila Jovovich) wakes up in a deserted hospital and exits to find Racoon City has fallen into chaos after the zombie virus created by the Umbrella Corporation got loose into the city and started infecting civilians. Now being put on lockdown, every resident barring those important to Umbrella, like one of their head researchers, Dr. Charles Ashford (played by Jarred Harris), are forced to remain in the city at the mercy of the ravenous undead. Among those trapped, is Raccoon City Police Department Special Tactics And Rescue Squad (or STARS) operative Jill Valentine (played by Sienna Guillory), who finds herself wondering the ruined streets until she is contacted by Ashford, who tells her that he will let her and her recently formed group out of the city if they find his daughter, Angela (played by Sophie Vavasseur), who didn’t get abstracted alongside him during the outbreak. After Alice meets up with them, this group will try and avoid the zombies and track down Angela, while also escaping the eyes of Major Timothy Cain (played by Thomas Kretschmann), who runs this operation under the orders of Umbrella, and a hulking silent beast named Nemesis (played by Matthew G. Taylor), who seems to have his eyes set on killing everyone involved with STARS.

For a follow-up to an already bad film, Apocalypse does contain a hint more enjoyment in comparison to what came before and what would come after, but that is not enough to cover up the abhorrent handling of every other component of this feature.

It’s fascinating to consider and comprehend why these movies were as successful as they were, as although their box office numbers were never that high (only ever reaching between $100 – $200 million), they were always able to make their money back due to featuring small budgets, and that gave them enough milage to continue moving forward. These movies seem to not care at all about adopting anything from the source material outside of basic premises, character names and general assets to the world like the various viruses, Umbrella and the unique monsters that come from this universe like zombie dogs, lickers and even Nemesis. The first film felt like a generic sci-fi knock-off film with zero attachment to the franchise, whereas this movie at least attempts to adopt a few more characteristics at the very least. The premise is fairly expected for the zombie genre, with a group of survivors trying to save a person and reach an exit point before the monsters kill them, which is told okay enough at the very least, but outside of vague throwaway lines that are delivered and written so terrible, nothing about the games comes out on this film universe, instead feeling like an entirely different world and premise with the skeleton of a well-known game stappled onto itself.

There is more of a sense of chaotic numbness to this movie that makes it feel like a perfect sample amongst the rest of Paul W. S. Anderson’s filmography (with examples like Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, and Alien vs Predator, highlighting his poor ability to capture the strengths of a premise in exchange for bland monotony), but Anderson was only the writer this time around, with the title of directing going to Alexander Witt, a cinematographer who is mostly known for working on a large variety of movies throughout the years ranging from Twister, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, The Bourne Identity, Daredevil, Casino Royale, etc. As a first time directing job, he seems to have a solid grasp on how to present a film, as the visuals for the film are a little better than anticipated (as would be expected from a cinematographer), but he clearly doesn’t really know how to properly direct a film, with it being saddled with a rushed pacing that leaves no room for investment or care, a thoughtless script that is so passionless and strangely complicated that it’s impossible to get into, and actors that feel like something out of a fan project rather than a feature-length picture.

For a franchise that could probably afford getting at least B-list talent to both adhere to mainstream audiences, yet still leave it small scale enough that it can introduce newer actors and not feel like a sell-out product, these movies have some truly D-list casting choices all throughout. Even the names that are more familiar to some like Mila Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Iain Glen and Wentworth Miller, feel too above this material as most of the remaining cast members feel like options that would be tossed into a throwaway third film follow-up to an exploitation movie, it’s a little embarrassing. It’s not like the actors do a good job making a case for themselves, as everybody is stuck with a horribly generic and stereotypical role that at best feels like a casualty of the genre, and at worse at consequence of the kind of thoughtless, pandering mush film they are stuck in. The leads never show any sign of engagement or stress about their situation, playing everything off in a dull, ambivalent attitude that perpetuates this horrid routine in similarly poor films where soulless heroes and heroines were seen as ‘’cool and edgy’’ and it is pathetically on display here.

Alice as a newly inserted character into this world is so flat and boring with nothing but generic flashy action moves to speak for her, it’s a terribly realized character that only further muddies the feasibility of this world through forceful psychic powers and superhuman feats, taking a franchise that is corny and over-the-top yet still weighty in the right places, and makes it a full-blown cartoon from beginning to end. What even worse is that Jill is arguably even worse than Alice, as due to Alice stealing most of the character’s screentime and story beats from the games, she has nothing to do and just resorts to taking part in more hollow action scenes. Sienna Guillory is so dolled-up and model-esque in her attire and body movements that she just feels like a Barbie-doll that hoarded G.I Joe’s wardrobe, it’s honestly a little insulting to see a character that many view as a staple for female roles in  video gaming history, being resorted to a second fiddle who’s only around for fan service. People like Oded Fehr, Razaaq Adoti and Sandrine Holt barely stick around, so they don’t have time to be boring, Thomas Kretschmann is pretty formulaic as the villain, Mike Epps is very annoying as the shoved-in comic relief who just comes across as a pimp stereotype, and Nemesis is an otherwise decent enough effect, but the limited screen time, low stakes in the story and goofy appearance the more times he is shown, waters down what was once a horrifying threat in the original source.

There is nothing worse for a piece of media than when it becomes distractingly dated due to submerging itself in a time period, and these movies are horrifically dated and are further burdened by being dated in one of the worst periods for entertainment as a whole, the early 2000s. Having to deal with shockingly lame music, terribly bland effects, a forcefully ‘’cool and edgy’’ attitude that borders on pathetic, and a tone that is more interested in numbing a susceptible brain through mindless mayhem and graphic sexual content as opposed to enriching them with depth, nuance and intrigue, it just puts a sour nature on this entire era of film, with these movies being filled to the peak with all of them (even when they bypass the time period with each consecutive sequel). The effects in this film are pretty terrible all around, with most of the CG being abundantly fake looking and ugly.

The film also barely features any action worth mentioning which is very strange given how desperately they are trying to play this film up as a mindless showy action film, but this ironically comes with a bizarre upside, as because there isn’t much action, it limits the moments where the awful effects can be displayed.  While there are flashy sequences throughout that are all pretty lame, most of them have poor choreography, no sense of engagement, and some really bad editing from Eddie Hamilton that makes it impossible to follow. While the cinematography on occasion by Christian Sabaldt and Derek Rogers is actually okay and even feels decently atmospheric, the overall look of the film ruins any feeling tension whatsoever due to how weirdly over lit the entire city is, blaring with these strong steely lights that give the film a harshly white or grainy blue component that just makes everything feel uninteresting and lifeless. The musical score by Jeff Danna is also pathetic, with a heavy metal rock tone that doesn’t at all fit with what could be a uniquely atmospheric situation, furthering along the formulaic checklist expected in these movies.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse should’ve instantly showcased why this is a ‘’wolf in sheep’s clothing’’ situation and halted any future efforts due to how generic, simplistic and uncaring this movie was in at least trying to emulate anything from the original games, but because they made money and were cheap to create, it was too enticing for the studios to pass up and they clearly cared very little about how true they stay to the source material (which feels extra ironic as Sony were the ones in charge of this universe, and they’ve definitely had their fair share of destroying source material for their own deluded endeavors). This sequel honestly isn’t even that much better or worse than the first film and might even be a little better than the ones that came after because there is at least a slight glimmer of the original source material whilst the remainders have nothing of the sort, but the terrible handling of the direction, acting, characters, scripting and effects, make it not worth defending either. It is hard to gage why this became such a long-running series (especially since every one of them has done poorly critically all around), but you’ll just have to watch the madness unfold with each passing movie.